More than an accessible education, hybrid programs are all about building relationships – online, in person and for life

By Kimberly Felton

“What time do they turn the geyser on?”
“When do they release the bison?”
“How old are deer when they turn into moose?”

The questions from visitors at Yellowstone National Park were sincere, and Tobyn Bower answered with a smile as he worked as a floor supervisor at the Upper Old Faithful General Store this summer.

Bower on a hike at Sequoia National Park

As it turns out, Bower chose Yellowstone for a second summer in a row – after working at Zion, Olympic and Sequoia national parks previously – because it provides the access he needs to continue taking seminary classes online. National parks are typically not known for great WiFi. “The Old Faithful area is such a populated place, the Internet service is some of the best I’ve seen,” Bower says. “That’s what drove me to another summer here, so I could do summer classes without interference.”

Kristen Marble has a different kind of interference to work around: She is mother to 10 children ranging in age from 6 to 19 (seven were adopted internationally).

While Bower cracks open his books by Old Faithful, waiting for the eruption that shoots up to 200 feet into the air, Marble waits for darkness – and quiet – to settle over her home, a 100-plus-year-old church in a small Montana town, before spreading out on the couch. Tall, arched windows frame her study space in what once was a sanctuary and is now the Marbles’ living room.

Bower and Marble are students at George Fox Evangelical Seminary, both in cohorts – groups of 20 to 30 students who go through classes together – in the seminary’s hybrid programs. Each cohort gathers two or three times a year for one week of “face-to-face” time. The rest is hours and hours logged online every week as they post questions, reflect and discuss what they’re learning.

Marble and her husband John have 10 children, seven of whom were adopted internationally.

Tears gather as Marble talks about her cohort – about the births, deaths, marriages and even cancer. “Two years ago we were strangers,” she says. “Now there’s this incredible bond. I wasn’t thinking about the people I would be sitting beside. I was just thinking about me and my computer” – an education that would fit between her roles as wife, mother, pastor, speaker and writer.

What began at the academic level as a desire to make a George Fox degree more accessible to potential students like Marble became an ever-deeper and ever-wider global network of close friends. Scratch “friends;” students in these hybrid programs become more like family. They feel more connected to their cohorts – academically, spiritually, emotionally – than they’ve experienced in traditional classroom settings.

They feel more connected to their cohorts – academically, spiritually, emotionally – than they’ve experienced in traditional classroom settings.

“I can be out here, yet optimize my entire masters experience without hindering or stifling it,” says Bower. “With face-to-face time, I remain connected to my online cohort. Every face-to-face time when I return for a week of studies, it’s become a family reunion.”

“In some regards we’re more known because the professor has read what we’ve written or asked for prayer for – which doesn’t necessarily happen with students who just show up once a week for class,” says Marble. “We talk a lot online. During our face-to-face, we’ve had pastors in our cohort share about challenges they faced in their denominations, in tears, because we have that kind of trust.”

Now with two years left in their degree program, Marble and her classmates have already planned a post-graduation missions trip to Mexico, and a reunion for the year after that. “Just so we have a reason to get together,” she explains. “It’s lifelong relationships, and I just didn’t expect that.”

“With the online program, students can choose you because of who you are, not where you are. And who we are is something special.”

At the masters level in a seminary hybrid program, students are online three and a half hours a day, six days a week. They post about the assigned reading one day, have three days to dialogue with each other, and then three more days to post a synopsis of what they’ve learned.

The key, says Darla Samuelson, director of hybrid programs at the seminary, is online presence – not only of students, but of professors and online facilitators, who serve as a sort of virtual teaching assistant. “Their job is to check in on online presence,” explains Samuelson. “We coach our professors to do this as well.”

Hybrid Learning at a Glance

Hybrid, or blended, programs emerged at George Fox University in 1999 as an avenue for professionals to continue their vocations while earning higher degrees. The university’s commitment that its students “be known” compels ongoing evolution in these programs, creating experiences of significant educational and relational depth.

Students currently enrolled in hybrid programs at George Fox log in from numerous countries in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa, and nearly all 50 U.S. states.

George Fox offers the following hybrid degree programs:

Doctor of Education

Doctor of Business Administration

Master of Divinity

Master of Arts in Ministry Leadership

Master of Arts in Spiritual Formation

Doctor of Ministry in Leadership and Spiritual Formation

Doctor of Ministry in Semiotics and Future Studies

Doctor of Ministry in Leadership and Global Perspectives

Bachelor’s degree in Management and Organizational Leadership

In addition, the following programs offer an online component:

Master of Education

Master of Arts in Teaching

School Administrator

Teaching Endorsement

Doctor of Education

In each program, 50-70 percent of students serve in places of leadership within their vocation. Another 20-25 percent are lay leadership, middle management and staff. All programs also have individuals who enrolled simply because something in them said it was time, and they’re following the path to see where it will lead.

Scot Headley, a professor in the School of Education, has honed his online teaching skills for 14 years. “It takes more time and has an emotional cost because you don’t have body language or the fellowship of being together,” he says. “There’s a real commitment on the part of faculty to . . . connect with students and want them to have the same experience [as on-campus students] of being known and cared for.

“It takes commitment and diligence and follow-through. It means being available to our students 24 hours a day, and developing an ability to read virtual body language – being able to read between the lines of how someone says something, how long the post is, the emoticons, what’s being left unsaid. It all helps me see a student in the same way that face-to-face allows us to read body language.”

Despite the added intensity Headley experiences as an online professor, the cost is worth the gain, both personally and professionally. “With the online program, students can choose you because of who you are, not where you are,” he says. “And who we are is something special.”

Marble interacts with members of her cohort during “face-to-face” time.

While the online medium forces professors to interact with each student, it also creates an environment where each student must interact as well. Performance is based on a rubric, a specific set of guidelines and expectations, for each class. Everyone must post a response to the reading material, and everyone must interact with others’ posts.

When Marble showed up for orientation, “I wasn’t sure I belonged,” she says. “Third-grade confirmation was my only Bible. Chemistry and German are my undergrad degrees.”

Entering seminary two years ago, Marble’s toes had just barely touched the fringes of ministry, and she wanted more biblical knowledge. She planned to keep quiet and learn, but quiet isn’t an option in the program’s rubric. “Getting into the classes, I realized I had a voice and ideas. There was a spot where I belonged, and could contribute.”

“Our No. 1 goal is to help students be present to each other, and for the faculty to be present to them,” says Gloria Doherty, director of hybrid learning programs at the seminary.

“Our online programs are kind of like contemplative prayer. People engage, then have quiet reflection, then pursue that reflection. Isn’t that the way God wants us to approach him? Engage, sit in the quiet, and then gain understanding from that. For me personally, it’s all about the community – and powerful learning comes from that.”

Tobyn Bower takes a break from his studies at Grand Teton National Park.

Like Father, Like Son
Father and son Ben and Ryan Staley both received their doctorates from George Fox University this past spring. And while they reported similar experiences, there was one major difference: they were separated by 1,800 miles.

Ben, who earned a Doctor of Ministry in Leadership and Spiritual Formation, completed his studies in a hybrid learning environment, logging in from Wichita, Kan., while maintaining his position as lead pastor at Northridge Friends Church. Ryan, meanwhile, took the more traditional route, studying in-person at the Newberg campus to earn his degree from the university’s Doctor of Psychology program.

So while Ryan interacted with professors and fellow students in the “real world,” Ben did so virtually, through regular conference calls, chats and e-mails. Both, however, noted a connection to their professors and fellow students.

“The faculty and staff make themselves available and are responsive as much as possible to accommodate students, whether near of far from the Fox campuses,” says Ben, who also mentioned the significance of relationships built during the required 10 days each semester of “face-to-face” time with his cohort in Cannon Beach, Ore.

For Ryan, sharing a similar experience with his father “provided another avenue of connection for us as we were able to relate to, understand and support each other in ways we hadn’t before.” Ben and Ryan aren’t the first Staleys to graduate from George Fox. Daughter/sister Rachelle Staley earned a master’s degree in spiritual formation in 2000, and was recognized as an outstanding recent alumna in 2005.